Hi. Now that I see my name in the third person it looks kind of dumb, you can just call me Cory if you want. I started the Stronglifts program 12 weeks ago in June with the goals of getting bigger and stronger. For the first 8 weeks I was reluctant to count cals and keep track of my diet. When I finally did (around the time I joined this site and went vegan--was just veg before) I found I wasn't eating enough which explains why while I did make some pretty good strength gains I didn't really gain any mass. It took me another couple weeks to get consistent and I only bought a scale last week. So in an effort to further motivate myself I'm going to start keeping a log here.

As for diet, my basic goals are to get 1.5xBW lbs/g in protein, about 100g fat, and the rest in carbs for a total of 3500 cals, but the more the merrier. I even made a little spreadsheet to keep track: http://shup.com/Shup/208779/cals.png I don't usually hit my mark on protein but I at least get more than 1g/lb.So I've gained almost 2 lbs in the 5 days I've been tracking it. I understand weight can fluxuate but I've been weighing myself each morning at the same time and I just hope to see the trend continue. If it doesn't, well I guess that's why you folks are here to help me out! So anyway, I hit the gym again tomorrow and will start updating my log. Any and all advice welcome!

The bodyweight exercises went pretty well, but I let myself cop out on the barbell exercises. I had my most intense squat workout last Friday (5x5 75kg), and while it felt GREAT to do it, I had a bit of anxiety at the thought of pushing that out again. I have yet to physically fail a squat and I'll just quit at the top thinking I don't have another one in me. I didn't even go for a 5th set today cause I wanted to be done with them, but I've done that before and it's just a mental block I'll have to get over. I did worse this time on bench press than last time with the same weight (I went 5,5,5,4,5 last time). I think the squats just kind of set the tone.

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I ate good today though. 3,937 cals, 601.3g carbs, 109.8g fat, 178.5g protein for a 60/24/17% c/f/p breakdown. However I woke up weighing slightly less than I did yesterday at 132.4 lbs. I did let my eating lag some over the weekend but I still beat the low end of my goals so I don't know what's up with that. Unrelenting, my body's needs are. Well, must press on..

Chewybaws - yeah looks like we started at the exact same time, i'm on my 13th week too. I even had a reset on my squats cause I strained my quads at around 65kg. Learned to use my hips more and it's been coming along a lot better since. I might be kicking yr ass on the bodyweight exercises because I still don't weigh anything lol. I could barely do one pullup at the start tho, so I can't say I'm not happy about my progress there. Haven't gained mass, but then I've only started aiming for 4k cals in the past couple weeks so I'm trying to be patient/get closer to hitting it each day. If I'm still not gaining after a month looks like I'll have to kick it up more or mess with my ratios. btw, i'd seen yr log before but couldn't remember the name, so i'll be following it now too.

Hey Cory! I didn't know Texans were on the metric system. You can do what you like, I was just curious.Looks like your in pretty good shape already.

_________________Happiness is a personal choice!I am the sole source of all my sadness and joy."The logic of worldly success rests on afallacy: the strange error that our perfectiondepends on the thoughts andopinions and applause of other men."Source: Thomas Merton

As for the squats and deads, well, I went in ready to pump out a new PR but I was stopped short by a pain in one of my right quads. I couldn't even get thru my warmup sets--by the time I got to 55kg I couldn't do one without definite pain. I've had a problem with this same area before after a hard workout with poor form, but this time I didn't pull anything while working out (or at least didn't feel it) and my form's a lot better. I think I need to look into better stretching exercises and hopefully I'll be better on Friday, tho I'll probably take it relatively light if I am. Sucks!

Still couldn't squat but the pain wasn't as bad. Read up on stronglifts and I think it's cause I'm not pushing my knees out enough. Will need to deload a bit and work on that Monday. Rest of the workout was pretty shit except dips. Had to workout after my first meal of the day and I felt really hungry by the time I got thru the benches. Next week will be better.I'm going out of town with my family for the weekend. Hopefully I can keep my cals up.

I had to deload when I hit the higher 70s for squats. My knees were going inwards for the higher weight. So I deloaded and worked my way back up concentrating on pushing knees out, but as soon as I hit the higher weights again the pain started coming back. Today was my 3rd day off squatting, it's depressing! The worst part is I thought Squats were my best progress, barely missed a rep, upper legs were starting to feel solid.

And the working out after one meal I hate! Just got no energy at that time. My girlfriend's always moaning that I don't go over earlier to see her, but I refuse to workout now before 2 meals!

Take lots of nuts for when you're out

Something I was wondering, do you time breaks between sets? I've started doing this recently, and it's waaaaaayyyy harder. Started taking no longer than 1m-1m30s breaks between sets and the number of reps deteriorates as the sets went on. Will have to deload a bit I think!

Squats started out fine but that pain started to inch in midway thru my 2nd set. I don't know if that meant I wasn't quite healed or my form was still bad but I quit before it hurt any more. Also I wanted to be sure I could get in the deads XD. Gonna have to deload on the press again, I know that's the first one a lot of people stall on but it's frustrating nonetheless.

Food today: 4,064 cals, 182.5g protein, 64/20/16 c/f/p

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Chewybaws: I generally wait about 3 minutes between sets if it's hard and/or there's a chance I might not complete the next set. With heavy squats I might take another minute. On easier exercises (rare now) or if I'm just feeling particularly pumped I'll go at like 2 minutes. Most things I've seen say 3-5 mins is fine but not more. I think if you only take 60-90s it will make you a better endurance athlete or something, but it's probably more important to complete the reps for strength.

Chewybaws: I generally wait about 3 minutes between sets if it's hard and/or there's a chance I might not complete the next set. With heavy squats I might take another minute. On easier exercises (rare now) or if I'm just feeling particularly pumped I'll go at like 2 minutes. Most things I've seen say 3-5 mins is fine but not more. I think if you only take 60-90s it will make you a better endurance athlete or something, but it's probably more important to complete the reps for strength.

Yeah think you're right, I'm gonna take at least 2m next time, cause it's impossible with just 60s. Especially overhead presses! I was prob taking about 3+m before, but workouts were getting way too long

My leg started hurting again while I was warming up so I didn't do squats. Figure I should let it heal completely so it's not lurking everytime. Rest of the workout went good. I was supposed to deload on bench press but I was feeling good and did them without much trouble. Highs on elevated rows & dips. I might switch to something else from the crunches soon, I don't know how much they're benefitting me and I haven't advanced since I dropped the counter weight.

I'm steady eating about 4k cals a day but gaining at a snail's pace. I don't know if I'm not working hard enough cause I've been out on squats or if I need to start eating even more soon. I guess I'll wait till I can squat again to see but waiting sucks, you know. On the one hand, it's kind of impressive how much I can eat and not gain weight.

I might switch to something else from the crunches soon, I don't know how much they're benefitting me and I haven't advanced since I dropped the counter weight.

I've always thought the reverse crunches were quite effective, I get a major burn off them. I'm still using a 5kg plate. I find they're as hard as you make them. The slower you do them the better, so you're not using momentum. And concentrate on your core pulling your legs rather than using the counterweight. Something that completely changed these for me was putting something inbetween my thighs and calves to ensure my legs were in a closed position all the time. Made them much harder - no cheating!

It's not been long since you started eating big, just need to stick at it. It's a long slow process to add mass. If you feel you can eat more, go for it! I barely hit my target of 4k a day, and it's usually cause I can't eat anymore (or motivate myself to do so).

What do you eat on a typical day?

And no you're not being a pussy. If your leg hurts everytime you go to do them because it hasn't healed, you need to rest it. If you're not sure, start off light and add weight gradually to see if the injuries still lingering. I'll be able to tell you soon if deep squats are making a difference for me

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